BRUCEB NEWS
Perplexity: From Searches To Answers
This is a love letter about my latest crush. I want you to try Perplexity when you look for information online. It’s my new best friend. It represents some important changes in the world happening right now and I want you to see them coming. You’re already seeing...
Vaccine Passports And Made-Up Crap
Most of the arguments against vaccine passports are just made-up crap. Like many of today’s social issues, much of the opposition to Covid vaccination certificates is not...
Memories Of A Giant Boulder
Forty years ago this week, I was eating popcorn in the middle of the tenth row at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, and I was having one of the best nights of my life. I...
This Ain’t Our First Vaccine Certificate Rodeo
Before we get to the issues that are being raised as objections to vaccine passports today, there are some lessons to be learned from history about the intersection between...
Why Is A Vaccine Passport So Difficult?
My wife and I traveled to Hawaii a few days ago. It took some close study to figure out the rules: a Covid test within 72 hours of the flight from a small group of approved...
The Three E’s Of Security
Educate. Encourage. Enforce. It’s all about security. That’s today’s job for a small business IT consultant. There’s been a consistent curve to technology adoption over the...
The Evolution Of Computer Consulting
Have you ever had that feeling of working your whole life at a job, great career, helped lots of people, but you realize as you reach retirement that your job has become obsolete...
Colonial Pipeline And The Business Of Ransomware
Ransomware is big business. I mean that in the most boring way possible. Have you been following the news about the Colonial Pipeline hack? There is a nuance that sheds much...
Why Isn’t “My List” The First Thing I See On Netflix?
I had an epiphany the other day about something that has been puzzling me: I expect “My List” to be the first thing I see on Netflix, and it’s not there. I couldn’t figure it...
Our Complicated Relationship With Outlook
We have a complicated relationship with Microsoft Outlook, built on almost twenty-five years of daily togetherness. There are stretches where we work together happily but they're...
Experian Knows Data Breaches, You Betcha!
You know the big three credit bureaus, right? It’s always entertaining to watch the gyrations of the random number they assign to each of us called a “credit score.” It’s the...
What If Facebook Leaked Your Data And No One Cared?
There was a bit of a fuss earlier this month when personal data turned up on the dark web for more than 500 million Facebook users, including name, phone number, gender, marital...
Cortana Daily Briefing & Schrodinger’s Cat
Microsoft Cortana is the Schrodinger’s Cat of personal assistants: it’s both alive and dead simultaneously. To be honest, after opening the door and observing Cortana, you’ll...
A Nuanced Trip Down Memory Lane
If you're an old-timer like me, you probably have memories - maybe fond memories, maybe not - of Dragon Naturally Speaking, for many years the only dictation software for Windows...
Office Licenses Simplified And Made Fascinating
“One account for all things Microsoft.” That’s what the login screen says. It’s a lie. Before we talk about licenses – and oh, how I know you’re looking forward to that! – let’s...
Microsoft 365 & Subscription Angst
Microsoft has changed the name of “Office 365.” Were you getting used to it? There are Microsoft execs who giggle with glee when they change names to confuse us. Okay, I don’t...